“I want to stress again that BP is the Responsible Party, but we need the federal government to make sure they are held accountable and that they are indeed responsible. Our way of life depends on it.”

Now, by some accounts, Jindahl is a pretty bright fellow (Rhodes Scholar, turned down medical school to go into politics). Surely he and others might be beginning to realize that for many, their way of life may not be retrievable. This is a sobering thought, perhaps enough to yield some realistic assessments of what got us into this mess, and how we can avoid it in the future.